Atheism is when an individual chooses not to believe in the existence of any deities. It is stating the position that there are no deities, or the absence of belief that there is a higher power governing the life of man.

To be an atheist means to reject the idea that there are gods in the Universe and to be an atheist means to question every religious belief that exists and being taught. Atheists are individuals who believe in the supremacy of human logic and reasoning; an atheist will rely on scientific principles and research and use this to conduct their daily living.

In the United States of America, 83% would identify themselves as Christians and the remaining 13% will identify themselves as having no religion or being an atheist. The remaining 4% are following non-Christian religions such as Judaism, Islam, and Buddhism.

Atheists are free thinkers, they have no certain religious beliefs and traditions that they follow. There are no codes and religious conducts, they are not required by any church to stop drinking beer, or doing drugs and they believe in freedom as a way of life.

Atheists cannot be quantified and measured, while there are some who frequently have sex, do drugs and alcohol not everyone is in this percentage. There are many Atheists that do contain good moral value even though they don’t follow a Holy doctrine. There are also Atheists who are scientists, researchers, teachers, physicians, doctors as well as well known celebrities.

Islam is very much against Atheism because it contradicts their traditional beliefs especially the ones that are written in the holy book of Islam the Qu’ran.

Most Atheist no longer believe in traditional marriage, and would not follow certain social conducts being imposed by the church; this is seen as a threat by most religions especially Islam.

However, this is not a belief that all Muslims participate in, there are some Islam believers that are very accepting of other people’s beliefs, it will all boil down to the perception of the individual who is following a certain religion. If they can be open minded and know as well as accept that it is alright for other people in the world to not believe in the same way of life that they believe in then they will be able to come to terms with the lack of beliefs that Atheists possess. This will mean for a peaceful union between them.

Atheism is defined as a lack of belief in supreme beings. An atheist may be a person who actively repudiates religion or someone who simply does not believe in a god.

Atheism is often confused with or conflated with agnosticism, but the two are fundamentally different. Agnosticism is the belief that humans are not capable of knowing whether or not there is a god whereas atheism is based on the definite proposition that no god exists. Atheism is also distinct from deism, a theistic belief that rejects the divine revelations professed by organized religions.

The term atheism comes from the Greek language. It is a combination of theos, meaning “gods”, and the prefix a, meaning “not” or “without”. For most of history, it was applied pejoratively to individuals who strayed from the majority religion. Few people would openly call themselves atheists for fear of religious persecution, which often included the death penalty.

Nevertheless, atheistic ideas have been expressed by philosophers and scientists throughout history. Greek philosophers such as Democritus, Critias, and Prodicus made statements that are interpreted as denials of a supreme being’s existence. Some branches of ancient Indian philosophy are atheistic. During the Middle Ages, the Islamic world produced a few atheistic thinkers as well such as Muhammad al Warraq, Ibn al-Rawandi, and Al-Razi.

In recent decades, an active atheist movement – sometimes called “New Atheism” – has emerged that aims to reduce the influence of religion in public life and promote reason and skepticism as guiding principles for society. This movement has centered around the works of philosophers such as Richard Dawkins, Sam Harris, Daniel Dennett, and the late Christopher Hitchens.

Atheists may subscribe to a variety of ethical philosophies that do not involve divine commands. These may be rooted in biology, utility, or virtue. Some atheists dispute that a person is truly moral if they are acting out of fear of divine retribution instead of ethical principles.

Atheists are the minority in most countries, but the highest concentrations are found in Europe, Canada, Australia, and New Zealand. Countries with the fewest atheists are in Africa, the Middle East, and South America. Some statistics show that more people in developed countries are becoming atheists, but the worldwide percentage of atheists may be decreasing due to low birth rates in heavily atheist countries and high birth rates in strongly religious countries. It should be kept in mind that actual demographics are difficult to come by because of the prevalent social stigma against atheism.

Some people insist that atheism is a religion in and of itself. The rational is that since God can neither be proven nor disproven, then the assertion of either viewpoints is unprovable (and thus a matter of ‘faith’); in other words since there is no way to prove that God exists, then there is no way to prove that ‘He’ doesn’t exist. Scientifically, it fails in a one key tenant: ‘great claims require great evidence’.
Since the main thrust of most religions is that an almighty ‘God’ is the creator of the universe and controls (or at least in some way effects) day to day occurrences in our world, it should follow that in order to accept this hypothesis one would need an abundance of evidence to prove the existence of God (also, there should be an abundant amount of evidence of ‘His’ existence, since the incidence of occurrence is allegedly so vast). However, the majority of religions not only offers no proof of God’s existence, but rejects all concepts of rational objectivity and instead invites their followers to devote their lives to God based solely on ‘faith’.
Atheism is also distinct from religion in that it lacks any sort of man-made hierarchies or divination of ‘laws’. There are no ‘leaders’ of atheism. There is no way to ‘follow’ atheism, except as a personal rejection of the concept of ‘God’ (or Gods) as a means to explaining morality or objective reality. This sets atheism apart from Satanism or any other cult which believes that ‘God’ is wrong; atheists simply believe that ‘God’ does not exist.
An important part of atheism to note is that it does not reject morality, self-improvement, or culturally important ceremonies. Indeed, one may be an atheist-Jew or an atheist-Buddhist. One can practice meditation and still be an atheist! Indeed many even believe that Christ was deeply influenced by Buddhism, and that when he said ‘I am man’ and ‘I am God’ he was introducing the idea that man himself is ‘God’.
So is atheism a religion? Unabashedly no. But atheist are not amoral. Nor do they reject human-lead self-improvement. They simply do not ascribe to the doctrine of ‘faith without reason’. They object to ‘In God We Trust’ and ‘Under God’ because they bring religion (as outlawed in the first amendment) into the everyday lives of their children. They reject ‘faith’ and embrace science and reason.